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the washington redskins are playoff bound. tonight an almost surreal feeling at redskins park as the nfc championship begins to sink in. but first, the u.s. is apparently going over the fiscal cliff. in just six hours across the board spending cuts and automatic tax hikes for all americans will kick in. lawmakers say they're close to an agreement. there are still some major sticking points. randall pinkston has the very latest. >> reporter: the gnat is close to a daily as the clock ticks

toward mid nature and the nation teethers on the edge of the so-called fiscal cliff. >> let's pass the tax relief portion now. let's take what's been agreed to and get moving. >> reporter: the tentative deal would extend bush era tax cuts for families making $450,000 a year and individuals making 40 o,000. it would also extend unemployment benefits for one year. president obama said he would have preferred a grand bargain that solves all of washington's revenue and spending problems. >> with this congress, that was obviously a little too much to hope for at this time. it may be we can do it in stages. >> reporter: negotiations have been going on all day, lawmakers and aids moving back and forth between meeting rooms on what is normally a quiet new year's eve. the major sticking point now is spending. the president suggested

lawmakers take action on deficit reduction in the next few months and that more tax revenue could be involved in those discussions. but republicans are furious at that possibility. >> i'm willing to support revenue to deal with this problem. the overall problem. but what i will not agree to is using revenue to replace spending reductions. >> reporter: even if the senate frawfs deal by midnight the house still has to pass the measure before the president can sign into it law. randall pinkston, cbs news, washington. >> even if it takes a few days to finish lawmakers say the cuts will be made retroactively but for federal employees they could go to work on wednesday not knowing if they will be sent home. if those automatic spending cuts kick in, there might not be enough money to run their agencies. kristen. >> reporter: the words that i keep hearing over and over are us from straight and confused. people are very frustrated with

all this uncertainty, congress, and even the phrase fiscal cliff. at the same time people are confused and very concerned about what going over the cliff is going to mean for them. earlier i was at the president's press conference. when he started speaking, everyone stopped what they were doing. we're talk dozens of people. here they are on pennsylvania avenue in between the white house and capitol hill, and they were hoping to hear the president say, we got a deal. instead, all they heard was a deal is within sight. >> reporter: did you hear what you wanted to hear from the president? you'd rather hear it was done? >> i'd rather hear it was done. very frustrating that they've been at this for month to month and it's now 12 hours away and we're very close. very close. that's great, but i would like to seat done. >> reporter: do you think it's going to happen in time? >> probably not. i'm not that confident that it will happen, but, you know,

yowrveg it's a cliff, either. >> i'm not confident it at all, no. it's like lipstick on a pig. you just want to walk down the street and ring some necks. >> reporter: you heard him say he wants to ring their neck. that's nice compared to would i've heard said today. this congress has been called one of the most ineffective congress in modern history. matt, people are very angry, but frankly not very surprised. here we are, six hours to go, and we're going over the cliff. >> kristin fisher from capitol hill. stay with 9news for the latest on efforts to avoid the fiscal cliff. we'll have have updates on our website, wusa9.com, and on 9 news tonight at 7:00 and 11:00. we have breaking news in prince william county where a police officer has died in the line of duty. debra alfarone joins us live from the scene with details.

>> reporter: matt, when you take a look behind me you will see exactly how fiery this crash must have been. take a look. you can see the car right there. that's on that lift. that's the car that hit that police officer, and certainly looking at that you can see this thing must have gone up in flames. there was no chance. officer chris young from prince william county was on his motorcycle on his way to at crash. he was right in this area, right on va 28, andy was driving southbound when a minivan was driving, and police officers say that the minivan crossed in front of that officer, attempting to enter the target parking lot, causing the crash which then, of course, took the officer's life. no one was hurt -- else was hurt. this happened around 2:00 this afternoon, a little bit after 2:00. the street here is still blocked off, as there is, where there's any type of investigation when someone dies, they certainly take a

long time to make sure that they do everything they need to do for this investigation. and young had worked for the department for about seven years. he was assigned to the traffic department as a motorcycle officer. the acting chief is asking at this point for everyone's thoughts and prayers as the department copes with the loss of a colleague and friend. young killed in the line of duty around 2:00 this afternoon, right here on va 28 as he was driving, responding to another crash, doing would he does, probably every day, trying to make sure the streets are safe. again that officer, 35-year-old christopher young, has died in the line of duty. live in brings story, debra alfarone, 9news. >> debra, thank you very much. on a much lighter note the washington redskins continue to amaze. last night the team clinched their first division title in 13 years. improbable? it sure was. especially when you consider the road they took to get

there. dave owens with more on the redskins' journey. >> reporter: surreal was a word folks have been throwing around. how did this happen? how did the redskins go from life support, to living, breathing? how did they win 10 games? how did that phrase get splashed on the oversize stadium monitor? >> you talk about character, a team that plays together, chance to do some special things. >> reporter: how did one rookie with two good legs and another with only one carry this team, rushing-wise, to a place it's never seen before? how? >> the teams that can run the ball and stop the run in the playoffs are the teams that win. so i think the quarterback's best friend is a strong running game. when a team knows they have to stop the run, they are going to play different defense. >> it's a humbling experience. i'm thankful to be here.

>> straight up, man, alfred. i told everybody he's been the backbone. >> reporter: how did this defense, once on pace to be historically bad, all of a sudden turn so opportunistic? >> we'll let this sink in tonight but tomorrow is back to work. >> reporter: tomorrow is now today, one step closer to the first home playoff game since 1999. the mantra, 12-team tournament, four-game season, don't be satisfied with just getting in. dave owens, 9sports. >> a lot of people dancing tonight. the redskins will take on the seattle seahawks at 4:30 sunday afternoon at fedexfield. coming up, doctors are keeping a close eye on secretary of state hillary clinton, who is now hospitalized with a blood clot. pretty pleasant out here on the weather terrace. i'm meteorologist erica grow taking a look at some wintry

weather possibly headed in our direction, but will any flakes actually fall on new year's day? we'll have that answer in the seven-day forecast. up next, more blame leveled at the state department for the deadly terrorist attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. stay with us. we'll be right back.

new information about if deadly september 11th terrorist attacks inben gearksz libya.

a report released by the senate committee on homeland security and government affairs blames the state department in large part for failing to respond to requests for more security. the report says terrorists essential walked right into the compound. >> the state department failed to take adequate steps to fill those gaps, failed to adequately fulfill requests from its own security department and failed to make the one decision that cries out to me as i look at testified, which was to simply say, we've got close this facility, because we can't protect american personnel in benghazi. >> four americans died in the attack, including the u.s. ambassador to libya, chris stevens. secretary of state hillary clinton is spending new years eve in a new york city hospital. mrs. clinton is being treated for a blood clot discovered yesterday. late today doctors said the

clot was located between her brain and skull, right behind her right ear. mrs. clinton is making excellent progress. they also predict a full recovery. 2013 arrives in the u.s. in just a matter of hours. the wait is especially exciting and cold for folks in new york city's times square.

welcome back, everybody. with less than six hours until 2013, hundreds of thousands of people are in new york's times square for the annual new year's eve celebration. many of them arrived before dawn to get the best spots to watch mayor michael plume berg and the world famous rockettes drop the giant ball at the stroke of midnight. security is very tight. police are checking all bags, plus no alcohol is allowed. if you think it's cold here, windchills are going to make it feel well below freezing tonight in the big apple. police in our area will be out in force looking for drunk drivers. if you've had too much to drink, don't put your life or somebody else's life at risk. for a safe ride home call sober ride at 1-800-200-taxi. fares under $30 are free. a lot of people within

dering about new year's eve weather. >> yesterday would have been a lot worse than today, so we had those winds settle down. we had clouds build in, but those clouds are not going bring us any precipitation tonight. tomorrow might be a different story. let's take a look outside with the michael & son weather cam. here we are live in northwest d.c. everything is looking okay. a mixture of clouds and stars was a temperature of 40 degrees. we actually have seen some showers on radar. lucy that in just a second, but they're not reaching the ground. they're evaporating before they get there. a look at headlines. cloudy but dry. it is because of that dew point. a few showers on the day on tuesday. we'll start off the new year with a little bit of precipitation. rain, maybe a wet snow flake, but it's too mild for any snow to stick around. that's what we're dog see as we has had through the next 24 hours. right now 36 in hagerstown, 34

frederick, 36 in leesburg, a little milder in washington and in easton it's 39 degrees. show showers to our north in pennsylvania. rain showers moving through the d.c. metro, but did you see any rape falling? it's not reaching the ground. the bulk of the rain is still waiting off in the wings to the south and west. that is would we will see in our forecast. future-cast helping to tell that story. not going to see much going on. snow still falling in garrett county but we are clear throughout our region which is, of course, great news for the fireworks displays, let 58 lone anything else you want to do. we will see a little pocket of showers move through as we head into tuesday, late morning early afternoon is the best potential of seeing any showers as we head through the day on tuesday. for the most part we are going to keep things dry. let's take a look at the forecast. happy 2013.

lots of clouds in place, but mid-30s, west southwest winds 5 to 10 miles per hour. not too much of a windchill factor in our backyard. the fireworks i'm sure will look just beautiful over the potomac requirement tuesday morning mostly cloudy with a shower possible, temperature in th30s. west winds 5 to 10. the winds become a little bit more southwesterly as we head through the day. lots of clouds and a chance for another shower, as i mentioned before, just a wet snow flake or rain drop, not a lot of moisture with this. over the next few days, just that chance of a shower, high are of 43. 42 on tuesday, 38 wednesday. it is going to stay chilly. highs of 40 or less for the next several days, so a little bit below normal for those high temperatures. on friday, slight chance for a snow shower, but it's nothing that's going to really do any kind of coating of the roads. looking good on sunday for that

next redskins game. so exciting. >> no offense, erica, but that's the only day everybody is concerned w. >> no problem, that's all i care about, too. >> really cold, but for the red- hot redskins, good gracious, people are still talking about the surreal season for the burgundy and gold. we'll hear more from the team, check in on ticket availability and more when we return.

no, it was not a dream, the redskins did win the nfc east last night by beating their biggest rival, the dallas cowboys, in the nfl's final game of the regular season. and the team is headed to the playoffs. they earned the trip behind the leadership of robert griffin iii playing on an injured right 23450e. three interceptions of tony romo helped. alfred morris broke the redskins' single season rushing record. now thoughts move ahead to the next opponent, seattle. >> the first step is winning the division, like we talked about. the second step is take one game at a time. it's either a three or four- game season for the team that wins the super bowl. what you have to do is pay attention to detail every day. the same things we've been

doing for the last several weeks we'll continue to do. >> if you fancied yourself going to the game, good luck. all tickets are sold out for the matchup against the seahawks. a quick check of stubhub and craigslist show availability. it is going to be a monster day of football. the ravens host the colts at 1:00 right here on wusa 9. washington hosts seattle at 4:30. be sure to tune in to wusa 9 for game on overtime after 9 news at 11:00. long time eagles head coast eagle reid is out in philadelphia, one of seven head coaches fired on blackmon day, the day nfl coaches get the axe. reid coached the eagles for 14 seasons and led them to six division titles and five nfc championship games in that time. it's new year's eve and we're winding down to the top d.c. sports moments. we're at number two. if you think playoff baseball

is in the mix, you're right. >> three balls two, strikes. the pitch. swing, and a long hit, deep left field, going, going, going! >> who in the world can forget this walk-off home run in game four of the nlds. that homer extended the nats postseason for just another day. no news in the hockey lockout. the capitals captain alexander ovechkin is making news. he and russian tennis player maria kirby kirilinko are engaged. we're because at 6:00 with your only local newscast. we're always on wusa9.com.

have a great night.